Analysis of Web 2.0 Design & Layout Trends – Part 1: Clean, Colorful and Horizontally Divided
Article or RSS item submitted by Ty Wenzel • Nov 15th, 2007 • Category: General, Trend Forcasting, Tutorials, Web DesignOne of the web 2.0 design and layout trends which I actually quite like is what I am going to call “clean and horizontally divided”. Catchy name eh?
Every trend should have a poster-boy, and the poster-boy for this trend is *drum roll* shoeboxed.com!
So, hopefully from the above screenshot you can see what I am talking about when I say “horizontally divided”. You can see there are several sections of the website which are all divided by different colors and layout. Each segment serves a specific purpose, with the amount of “real” information increasing as you move further down the page, and the amount of “marketing” information decreasing as you move down the page.
Before we analyze the elements of this trend, here are some more sites which are worth looking at to give you an idea of what this trend is about:
OK, enough of that! Lets get to it!
Top Segment/Logo
Looking at all the above screenshots you will see that most of these sites follow a fairly similar trend for their logos and top segments.
The top-most segment tends to contain a darker background with a very simple text based logo:
The logos may also have a small amount of decorative extras, but nothing too over the top:
These top segments tend to contain very little elements other than the logo. This leads to a clean look where the user is not overloaded with information and navigation options at the top of the page.
Other Segments
The second segment tends to contain large typography and a bit of catch-phrase or selling point for the website.
Third and fourth segments tend to explain the website or product in more detail (e.g. feature-list, screenshots and focus points).
Colors
The color schemes on these websites vary. Gradients are used extensively but subtlety. Black and light blues feature heavily, with splashes of vibrant colors in large icons on the sites.
Let’s take a look at the more vibrant of the color schemes:
Icons/Vector/Characters
Graphics play an important part in the overall look-and-feel of this trend. We have already mentioned the use of gradients, but in addition to this is vector cartoons and catchy icons.
Vector cartoon characters are visually appealing and help brand a website. They also make the user feel like the application/website is very easy to use:
Icons and badges also help add a splash of color to the site. They can also draw attention to the more marketable aspects of the product/application/service.
Navigation
A big theme of this trend is simple, effective and clean. In order to achieve the clean feel, simple navigation is a key. In the sites we have looked at, there is a maximum of seven menu items present on the home page. Some even have as little as three menu items (Home, Login, Sign up).
So there you have it - a complete analysis of the “clean, colorful and horizontally divided” web 2.0 trend. I hope you are able to use this as a tool to help your own creativity if you choose to design a site which fits into this trend.
I hope to do further analysis on other web 2.0 trends - it is rather time consuming though so let me know if this is useful.
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